Category Archives: Survival
Snap, Crackle, Drop…Scream [Close Calls] |
Bungee jumping sounds fun, right? The so-called “sport” has long been one of those three-beers-in vacation stunts that earns a person lifetime cocktail party cred, because having done it confers a certain badass-ness that belies how statistically insignificant accidents are … Continue reading
During a “Saturday Night Fever” themed cookout and dinner to celebrate the last night at camp for the last session of campers a lodge pole pine tree was struck by lightning. A camper flung open the door to the dining … Continue reading
Trail of Tears [The Howl of Nature]
Posted by in Mountain Madness, Survival, The Howl of Nature
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You know when you’re just riding along on your bike, thinking about dinner and that time you once bunny hopped a really big branch, and then a 450-lb red hartebeest just totally takes you out at about 50mph? No? It’s … Continue reading
Trial by Volcano [Lonely Island] |
What does it feel like, that first night abroad and alone? Here, in a taut, vivid meditation on the nature of recomposing the self in a new, thrillingly different—and more than a little dangerous—environment, frequent contributor Kate Erickson explains the … Continue reading
Seeing Stars [Drive Like Hell] |
It happened in Granados, Mexico, in the summer of 1997. I was 13 and visiting relatives on a family vacation. After a feast with family, laughing together, we got into the back of red pick-up truck. Seat belts in a … Continue reading
Floating to Paradise on the S.S. Montezuma [Howl of Nature] |
After a semester abroad in Costa Rica, I traveled with a friend through Central America. We missed the last ferry from Guatemala to Belize, so we hitched a ride on a large canoe that was filled with at least fourteen … Continue reading
In 1961 two friends and I decided to explore the limestone caves of West Virginia. I had a map that caving friends had given me and so we headed south from Pittsburgh. Sure enough we found an entry hole just … Continue reading
Finding English speakers can be a little hit and miss in Oman. While some locals speak perfectly, others struggle to even understand our very basic attempts at pronouncing place names in ‘gringo’ Arabic – but it’s not for want of … Continue reading
The Shipwreck Drowned My Homework [Semester-at-Scream] |
In 1963, my wife and I set out on a round the world cruise with over 500 undergraduates in an old tub converted to a floating university. We approached Alexandria, Egypt in a storm so nasty that all the other … Continue reading
How to Survive a 1,000-Foot Fall [X Marks the Splat] |
He fell off with his ice axe tied to the back of his rucksack. “I remember at the start of it, from when I first slipped, trying to slow my speed; trying to slow myself down so I could hopefully stop. Every time I started to slow myself down I would go over a cliff and pick up speed again and as this process continued, I just kept going.” Continue reading